The present invention relates to sunglasses and especially to louvered sunglasses which are adjustable for different angles of the sun or other light source.
In the past, a wide variety of sunglasses have been provided for shading a person's eyes from the sun. Typically, sunglasses have a frame, such as a plastic or metal frame, having a front piece with two lens openings and connected by a bridge, and having a pair of tabs or nose pads positioned between the frame front piece lens openings. The frame also includes a pair of temple members which may be hinged with the hinge riveted between the temple and the front piece. In most sunglasses, colored lenses are used to filter out different light frequencies to shade the eyes and such tinted lenses may be of different colors and many be formed into prescription lenses for a specific individual to correct his vision. It has also been suggested in the past to shade the eyes with small louvers similar to venetian blind louvers which will block the sun at one angle while allowing visibility therethrough in the line of the vision of the eyes through the louvers.
A typical prior art U.S. Patent can be seen in Des. Pat. No. 196,532 for a pair of louvered sunglasses. In U.S. Patent No. 2,983,271 to Beck, a surgical mask has louvers mounted at different angles. In the Driver U.S. Pat. No. 1,089,539, a light shield is provided having slats fixedly mounted in a pair of spectacles. In the U.S. Pat. No. 2,114,658 to Noffsinger, a pair of sun goggles is provided with a plurality of fixed and angled thin metal strips which are non-reflecting for blocking the sun. In the Hebrard U.S. Pat. No. 2,232,455, spectacles are provided with a plurality of angled parallel plane and horizontal slits formed therein to provide visibility at a certain angle while providing protection against intense light from other angles. In the Duncan U.S. Pat. No. 2,824,308, a louvered screen eyeglass is provided with a plurality of interconnected louvers which can be repositioned in either a horizontal or vertical direction. The louvers are interconnected with a wire fabric.
The present invention is similar to these prior art U.S. patents in utilizing a plurality of angled louvers for blocking the sun or other intense light in one direction while allowing visibility therethrough at other angles. The invention provides for one shaft connected to each of the louvers in each of the lens for simultaneously rotating the louvers to adjust the angle in accordance with the angle of the sun or intense light striking the face and includes the option to close the louvers to completely block all of the light passing through the lens opening of the eyeglass frames such as when sunning on the beach.